Pakistan can offer â€˜30% lessâ€™ price on warships to Qatar

Pakistan can deliver ships of any size â€œminus the aircraft carrierâ€ to Gulf countries, especially Qatar, at 30% less construction cost than what Western manufacturers
offer, a senior Pakistani official has said. In an interview, Rear Admiral
Syed Hasan Nasir Shah, who is a serving Pakistan Navy officer and managing director of Karachi
Shipyard & Engineering Works (KSEW), said his organisationâ€™s various international certifications
prove that the countryâ€™s ship- and submarine-building capacity is on a par with the best in the world. Pakistan has only one shipyard,
the KSEW, which comes under its Ministry of Defence Production. Even though its naval forces boast of an impressive array of
indigenously built fleet of
warships and submarines, the country today is known more for its ship-breaking industry at Gadani than its modern facilities at the KSEW. When asked how the KSEW plans to create a space for itself in the extremely competitive environment, Shah said his shipyard offers many advantages to potential customers in the Gulf, least of which is geographical proximity.
â€œThe best advantage of our
shipyard is in the quality of our manpower and affordability in terms of man hours,â€ he said. He explained that these days, around 40% of the total cost of building a ship in Europe goes into the material for electronics, weapons and auxiliary systems. The remaining 60% goes into manpower and construction.